MIDDLETOWN — Everett James had all three of his pitches working on Wednesday while leading the Fort Bragg Timberwolves past the Middletown Must-angs 4-0 in a North Central League I North varsity baseball game at Wes Martin Field in Middletown.
James allowed only three hits, all singles, and struck out 14 as Fort Bragg moved to 3-0 in the North standings. Middletown fell to 0-2 and 6-10 overall.
“He had pretty good velocity,” said Middletown coach Mitch Tucker, who estimated that James” fastball was in the low 80 mph range. “And he was able to get his curve over with two strikes.”
James also mixed in a split-finger fastball to keep the Mustangs off-balance at the plate. He struck out the first five batters he faced and seven of the first nine.
“We started making adjustments (at the plate), but not enough to get anything going,” Tucker said of his batters.
Middletown starter Devin Nordin matched James goose egg for goose egg until the top of the fourth inning. That”s when the Timberwolves loaded the bases with no outs and went on to score three runs. They added an insurance run in the fifth.
“He had command of his pitches,” Tucker said of Nordin. “I thought he threw the ball very well.”
Nordin also went the distance, striking out four and walking two.
Daniel Sallee, Trevor Finley and Eric Tomko had the only hits allowed by James.
Middletown tries again for its first North win at home Friday against Kelseyville at 4 p.m.
